Australian Labor Party debates on defence policy are often full of passion and vigour, especially those involving regional security, nuclear issues and the alliance with the United States. A combination of all three has made …
Search Results for "submarines"
Paul Dibb’s Strategist post, in response to Sam Roggeveen’s recent Australian Foreign Affairs article, was on target. But I must quibble specifically with his assertion that no commentator in their right mind would recommend a …
British media reports indicate that the UK Ministry of Defence intends to sign a contract with BAE Systems for the ‘detailed design and long lead items’ of a new class of submarine. I wonder what …
The Labor party avoided an open stoush over nuclear weapons at last week’s national conference. But it would be wrong to imagine the issue’s gone away. Nuclear weapons are becoming more prominent in a more …
In the public mind, long-range strike options, such as land-based missiles and the AUKUS submarines, are ‘the deterrent’. If so, the Australian Defence Force is stuck in a holding pattern for many years to come. …
Paul Dibb’s critique of my Australian Foreign Affairs essay, ‘Target Australia: Is the alliance making us less safe?’, falls into three broad categories: the first is about China’s plans to strike Australia, the second about …
The 2023 defence strategic review has as its centrepiece the concept Defence Minister Richard Marles has defined as ‘impactful projection’. The goal is to defend Australia and its immediate region, and to ‘deter through denial’ …
The structure of the Royal Australian Navy since its inception has been determined by trading off capability, cost and workforce. Long lamented by naval historians and practitioners alike has been the view that Australia’s maritime …
Australia and France have made significant strides towards repairing their diplomatic relationship in the nearly two years since Australia’s cancellation of its submarine contract with French company Naval Group. Technically, they are close neighbours, sharing …
In the latest issue of Australian Foreign Affairs, the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen makes assertions about the priorities of China’s nuclear targeting of Australia, as well as what he claims will be Australia’s missile targeting …
Maritime security is a term that can mean almost anything. For many, it conjures images of big-ticket ‘hard security’ issues like military modernisation, island-building, freedom-of-navigation operations, maritime surveillance, grey-zone tactics and maritime militia. But maritime …
In the US, the ‘Washington consensus’ of fiscal stringency, deregulation, trade liberalisation and disdain for industry support is dead. It was killed by a new politics capitalising on the anger of a hollowed-out middle class, …